Gujarat polls: Patel quota agitation leader’s wife wins

Ahmedabad: Rekha Erwadia, wife of the Patel quota agitation leader Nilesh Erwadia who is currently in jail in a sedition case, has won in the election to Morbi district panchayat in Saurashtra today.

Results of the local body polls in Gujarat were announced today.

Rekha, who had never contested election in the past and who had got a ticket from Congress this time, dedicated her victory to the Patel community.

“I always knew that I will win as my community provided me the motivation to fight for our rights. Not just Patels but voters from other communities also voted for me. People knew how this BJP-government committed atrocities on us,” she said.

Congress snatched the Morbi district panchayat from BJP by winning 22 out of 24 seats.

“This is our reply to BJP government. We have shown them what we can do. This is a victory over the injustice and arrogance of BJP,” Rekha added.

Nilesh Erwadia, one of the conveners of the Patel organisation ‘Patidar Ananmat Andolan Samiti’ (PAAS), has been arrested by Ahmedabad crime branch on the charge of sedition for alleged involvement in violence in Morbi after the quota movement leader Hardik Patel was detained on August 25.

Congress had also given tickets to Hardik’s aide Amrish Patel’s wife Sadhana from Ghatlodia ward and city PAAS convener Atul Patel’s wife Chetna from Chandlodia ward in Ahmedabad. But both the women lost, though these wards have sizable Patel populations.

Amrish Patel too is facing a sedition case for allegedly inciting Patel youths to resort to violence after August 25 rally. He has got interim protection from arrest.

BJP has managed to retain the Viramgam municipality in the Ahmedabad district. Viramgam is the hometown of Hardik Patel, who himself is in jail in a sedition case.